The present invention concerns the construction of an efficient, low noise voltage regulator using a single winding magnetic element whose output and control and active power handling elements are all referenced to the circuit ground.
In DC power supplies, in general, a transformer is used to transform voltage from an available DC voltage level to a desired DC voltage level. The voltage level is transformed based on a turns ratio in the transformer.
Industry standard DC power supplies, as described above, which use transformers have several disadvantages. For example, the amount of windings used in the transformer can add significant, size, weight and manufacturing cost to the power supply. Also, the transformers generally transform voltage levels at a fixed ratio, which does not take into account different voltage levels of power sources.